Malcolm Turnbull touches down in Washington for US visit

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has visited the Pentagon and laid a wreath at Arlington National Cemetery after touching down in Washington DC for a two-day official visit to the US.

Mr Turnbull was greeted at the airport by outgoing Australian ambassador to the US Kim Beazley at 7.52am (US time) on Monday.

The prime minister will meet US Defence Secretary Ash Carter and will hold bilateral talks with President Barack Obama on Tuesday at the White House.

During his trip Mr Turnbull will make the case that the Iraqi people won't accept coalition boots on the ground in the fight to defeat Islamic State militants.

"The destruction of ISIL requires a military solution - it requires boots on the ground," Mr Turnbull will say in a keynote speech to the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Washington on Monday afternoon (US time).

"But they must be the right boots on the right ground."

The recent retaking of Ramadi was a prime example of how the Iraqi army leadership, assisted by the coalition's respective air and special forces, was "the right combination", the prime minister will argue.